plural or singular verb

Question

I believe there is an error in the sentence: "mais la majorite des parents inscrivent leurs enfants.La majority is singular, hence the verb should be "inscrit"Right?

Accepted Answer

Hi Jaap, 
Although 'la majorité de ',  just as,  'la plupart de', are collective nouns meaning a great quantity, it makes more sense to agree the verb with the complement, parents in this instance.  It is the parents who register their children at school, not the majority. Sometimes, you will be able to use the singular or the plural depending on whether the stress is on the collective noun or its complement.

La plupart des gens votent quand on leur demande = Most people vote when they are asked to
La majorité des Français a / ont voté pour Emmanuel Macron = The majority of French people voted for E M
La majorité d'entre eux a / ont voté pour Macron = The majority of them voted for Macron

You will even have sentences without complement but as they are implied, the plural will be used -
La plupart sont arrivés à l'heure = Most of them arrived on time
So no, there's no error in the text.

Answer

Hi Jaap,I read it as "la majorité (of les) = des parents" ......    Therefore inscrivent is correct (Ils / Elles )The point is (of LES) parents.......Do you agree?Alan (Jim)

Answer

The search term in English is 'syllepsis' (or zeugma).

In French « syllepse » or « accord sylleptique » are useful (I had to search for it - not something I carry in my head for reference).

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/syllepsis

https://www.thoughtco.com/syllepsis-rhetoric-1692166

https://www.question-orthographe.fr/question/accord-avec-la-majorite/

Although the same situation applies in English it would be good to add a short paragraph to a lesson on 'collective' nouns and verb agreement to cover this.